The Sun calls Stewart Lee: "The worst comedian in Britain, as funny as bubonic plague."
If you needed any further reason to love him, consider also that one critic described my favourite comedian's act as being aimed exclusively at "atheist, comic book reading, Morrissey fan nerds."
Now I resent that remark. I'm not an atheist. I'm an agnostic. There's a big difference.
How I Escaped My Certain Fate is a book that may only be of interest to the group described above, but deserves to break out of that ghetto and take over the world. It consists largely of heavily annotated transcripts from the three big comeback shows Lee toured extensively in the latter part of the noughties, leading to his TV return on Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle. I've seen all three shows live, and on DVD, so I know the material pretty well by now. And seeing it written down obviously loses much of the humour that comes from the Lee's desert-dry delivery. He even admits, "the text of a stand-up set should be so dependent on performance and tone that it can't really work on the page, otherwise it's just funny writing". And yet, I loved this book. Not so much for the jokes, but for the fascinating peek behind the jokes - the insights into how comedians build sets, where jokes come from, and how performers struggle to hold an audience's attention, or even sometimes willingly sacrifice that attention in order to make winning it back more of a challenge.
It also reads like a detailed and opinionated history of what was once called "alternative comedy" in the UK, from the late 80s to the present day, touching on both famous names and lesser known influences. And if you've ever wondered how and why certain comedians end up big TV stars while others keep plodding away in the clubs, Lee's book also lifts the lid on the hilarious inconsistencies of the commissioning process. In fact, if you're at all interested in comedy, you really ought to read this book... unless you agree with the Sun, in which case I believe Michael McIntyre has a new "bestseller" out with big writing and lots of pictures for you to colour in with your wax crayons and stuff.
